Fairfax school says ‘We stand with Parkland’

A banner hangs at Paul VI Catholic High School in Fairfax to show support for the victims and survivors of the Feb. 14 Parkland, Fla., shooting. ZOEY MARAIST | CATHOLIC HERALD

Around 30 students and faculty members from Paul VI Catholic High School in Fairfax gather for an after-school prayer service for victims of the shooting in Parkland, Fla. ZOEY MARAIST | CATHOLIC HERALD

Erin McLaughlin lights one of 17 candles for the victims of the high school shooting in Parkland, Fla. ZOEY MARAIST | CATHOLIC HERALD

From students crouching under desks
during nuclear bomb drills in the 1950s to students hiding in closets during
active shooter drills today, the threat of violence has never been far from
this country’s children. But the menace became real at a Parkland, Fla., high
school Feb. 14 when a 19-year-old former student allegedly killed 17 people and
terrorized hundreds of others.

The activism of the Parkland teens has
inspired students at Paul VI Catholic High School in Fairfax to set aside 17
days to remember the victims.

On the front lawn of Paul VI, a large
and simple banner tied to the fence reads, “We stand with Parkland.” During the
morning announcements, Father Stephen J. Schultz, chaplain, prays for one victim, and later
offers a Mass for him or her. He and other faculty have been inspired by the
students’ initiative.

“Teenagers are all about action, but
they wanted to take this as an opportunity for more reflection and
conversation,” he said. “The laws of the country might change, but what really
needs to change is each one of us.”

The frequency of mass shootings has caused
many Americans to hear the news, then disengage, including several Paul VI
students. “It honestly did not hit me at first,” said senior Megan Revor.
“There have been a lot of shootings, I remember being like ‘Geez, another one.’
”

But a few students, including Anastasia
Carvalhais and Noah Strike, decided they needed to do something, and they encouraged
others. Now, different student groups are taking turns planning the daily
memorials and spreading fliers around campus.

For Chloe Tarbell, thinking deeply about
the tragedy began in apologetics class, then in philosophy club. “It was about
what is suffering and what does it mean to suffer with others?” she said. “We
can’t degrade someone's suffering by just asking what were the causes and how
do we immediately fix it. You have to delve into and feel it and then ask the
question why do these things happen?”

Around 30 members of the Paul VI
community gathered March 1 in the chapel after school to remember the life of
one Parkland victim: Nicholas Dworat, 17. Seventeen candles burned on the
windowsill as a student reflected on Dworat’s life. Another student read from
Romans, “We rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces
endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and
hope does not put us to shame.”

Sara Garstka was one of the students who
planned the service. “When I started working on what I was going to say, I saw
that he was a swim captain and I'm one of our swim captains, so it felt really
real all of a sudden,” said Garstka. “I had to come cry with Jesus. How
terrible it is that he goes to school and thinks he’s going to swim practice
after. He’s never going to get to do that thing that brings him joy again, at
least in this world.”

“And that's what most of our prayer
services are aimed toward — contemplating what is actually lost here,” said Revor.
“This isn’t just a name.”

Tarbell added, “We can love them more
for the people that they were, and that can make us care and want to take
action.”

Other diocesan schools are keeping the
Parkland community in their prayers, including Bishop Ireton High School in
Alexandria and Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, which will hold
prayer services for the Parkland victims March 14 as part of a nationwide
effort.